LYCAONIA lĭk ā ō’nĭ ə (Gr. Λυκαονία, G3377). A satrapy in southern Asia Minor.
The borders of the region called Lycaonia are not well defined, but it had Galatia to the N, Cappadocia to the E, Cilicia to the S., and Pisidia to the W. It consisted for the most part of a high, treeless plateau, the land being fertile enough and productive where there was water, but good mainly for raising sheep and goats (Xenophon, Anabasis, IV. 2. 23). The people who inhabited the region have been described as warlike and energetic. They emerge in about the 6th cent. b.c., already speaking a language of their own, and during the long rule of Persia in Asia Minor, maintained themselves free from Pers. domination. After the fall of Persia and the death of Alexander the Great, the region fell under control of the Seleucids and so remained until 190 b.c. when the Romans handed Lycaonia over to Pergamum. When King Attalus died in 133 b.c. and the Pergamene kingdom was dissolved, the region was administered by the Romans as part of their settlement in Asia, and from 25 b.c. onward became part of Galatia or Galatia-Cappadocia.
The leading cities of Lycaonia were Lystra and Derbe. Iconium was evidently a Phrygian city, for when the Jews stirred up trouble for Paul and Barnabas there, they fled to the Lycaonian cities for safety (Acts 14:5, 6). As everywhere else in the Seleucid realm the process of Hellenization went on, but slowly in Lycaonia, for the people are described as being backward. Greek was no doubt understood in the cities, but the people still retained their own language, responding to the miracle Paul worked upon the cripple in Lystra by shouting out in the Lycaonian tongue (Acts 14:11). They then proceeded to get ready to sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas as though they were gods, an act from which Paul barely restrained them. This whole incident indicates the strong hold of pagan religion upon the populace of the region.
The Book of Acts speaks of aggressive groups of Jews both in Pisidian Antioch and in Iconium (chs. 13 and 14), but says little about any such groups in Lystra and Derbe. In fact, it was Jews from Antioch and Iconium who came and stirred up the people at Lystra against Paul and Barnabas (Acts 14:19, 20). There must have been some Jews living in the Lycaonian cities, for Timothy came from Lystra, and his mother was a Jewess. Indeed, Paul decided to circumcise Timothy because of the Jewish element in the place (Acts 16:1-3).
In all, Paul made three visits to Lycaonia. The first was on his first missionary journey, accompanied by Barnabas, and they preached there with some success (Acts 14:21f.). On his second journey, Paul returned to the region with Silas, found Timothy at Lystra and added him to the company, and ministered to the Christians in the cities there (Acts 16:1-5). When he set out from Syrian Antioch on his third journey, he again went through the region, encouraging and strengthening the churches (Acts 18:23).
Bibliography Pauly-Wissova, Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, XIII2, 2253-2265; Oxford Classical Dictionary; A. H. M. Jones, Cities of the Eastern Roman Provinces (1937), ch. 5.